Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I must NO LONGER Procrastinate

Ok, the time has come. I can no longer READ just to avoid revising my novel –not anymore! The Procrastination has come to an end!

After receiving a LOT of advice and feedback on my book, I realized just how much work it needs! This is both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. I was very naïve when I began this process, and thought that as soon as I finished my manuscript, I would be done!

OH MY GOODNESS, I was SO wrong!

With all the ideas on how to improve my book, and with the help of SO MANY great blogs out there, I intend to fix this problem.

First Step- fix the beginning. This will probably be the hardest step because I have to REALLY fix it. Like, basically start over! So sad I know… but that’s ok.

I need to make a GREAT first sentence… and then I need to develop each scene better. Some feedback was that the first few chapters were so slow… and I realized (after reading some GREAT posts on this blog I’m following) that my scenes have no action-reaction. There is no tension in the beginning… So- I have to fix that

Second Step- go through the ENTIRE book and fix my horrendous amounts of punctuation. Its pretty ridiculous, but I LOVE my exclamation points!!! ;)

Third Step- Develop my characters back stories more… all of them. The only character you really understand is the main character-but I need to make all the characters more… deep- no longer flat.

Fourth Step- SHOW more than TELL what’s going on- GREAT example from this AWESOME BLOG I just found,

“Telling sentence: Jane was becoming angry.

Showing sentence:Jane's firsts curled into balls and her muscles tensed.”

Fifth Step- Make the Climax better- develop the fighting scene better and make it less anticlimactic. How to do this… I’m not sure, but I will figure it out!

4 comments:

Ill read the next draft if you want! Im so excited to watch how it grows and develops. Did you see that blog I linked on your FB yesterday? I was suprised and not suprised all at the same time reading that you should revise at least 10 times before sending to a publisher.

I know exactly what you mean. Once the first manuscript is finished, we're so ready to move on to our next exciting idea, that it is very hard to go over the same piece, same characters, same story, over and over and over again... ugh! It happens to all of us, that's why revising/editing is the hardest job of all. It feels never-ending, but believe when I say it is very rewarding and when the final piece is ready to be showcased, you'll feel so proud that you sticked to it and made it through!

Keep on going, you'll do it. Do not lose hope, do not falter. You will learn the most out of this very process your about to begin.

Thanks for the encouraging words! I won't give up! It's just so much! Until you write your first book, you have no idea what authors have to do to finish the book, and then to get published! It grow a whole new level of respect for all authors!

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About Me

Theresa M Jones is just a regular small town, Texas girl. When she isn't at work at a local Medical Equipment provider, you can find her at home with her husband and two beautiful (and rambunctious) kiddos.
In her spare time- as if there ever was such a thing as "spare time" - she reads and reviews books on her book blog, and writes paranormal romance novels.
POWER (The Descendent Trilogy #1) is her debut New Adult (Mature YA) Paranormal Romance novel.